A large black bear wandered into the backyards of two Seymour homes Wednesday.
The bear was in search of food, according to Seymour resident Paul Thompson, who was inside his Evergreen Terrace home when he saw the animal come into his backyard at about 11:30 a.m.
“He grabbed (the bird feeder) with one paw, pulled the line down, and tipped the bird feeder up and just poured the seed into his mouth like he was drinking a glass of water,” Thompson said.
“He drank it like a glass of water, moved to the next bird feeder and did the same process,” Thompson said.
The other reported sighting Wednesday came from a home on Chestnut Street. Both homes are in the Skokorat Street area, in the northern section of town, near the Beacon Falls town line.
A third report of a black bear sighting was given to police about a week ago in the Rolling Hills subdivision off Skokorat Street, according to Lt. Paul Satkowski.
“As a precautionary measure we felt it would be prudent for us to let the public know,” Satkowski said.
Wednesday afternoon the Police Department and Office of Emergency Management issued a Code Red phone and text message alert to residents who live within a one-mile radius of Skokorat Street.
The message advises residents to call Seymour Police at (203) 881‑7600 if they see a bear on their properties.
“That’s a heavily populated area,” said Thomas Eighmie, the town’s emergency management director. “That’s all heavily populated with children.”
The Code Red alert advised residents not to engage the animal, to make sure children and pets are inside, and to call police if they see a bear, Eighmie said.
Seymour police have called the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to notify the department about the bear sightings, Satkowski said.
The Bear
Thompson said his yard is along a wooded area bordering Beacon Falls and is common ground for turkey, deer, and other wild animals.
But he’s never seen anything as big or dangerous as a bear in his yard until Wednesday.
“It startled me,” Thompson said.
Thompson first thought a man was in his backyard messing with the bird feeders his family has hanging from a wire about six feet off the ground.
But when he got a better look at the looming figure hanging out by the bird feeders, he saw a snout and the fur, and realized what was happening.
“I ran, and made sure my dog was inside, and my mom was inside, and I called police,” Thompson said.
Then he did what anyone else would in that situation: He grabbed his camera and started shooting photos of the bear.
They show the bear eating the birdseed while sitting on his hind legs.
After he ate up, the bear wandered back into the woods, Thompson said.
“I was more shocked than I was afraid,” Thompson said. “I was inside and he was outside. It was more of a shock that a large creature, 400 or 500 pounds — would actually wander into my backyard and was eating birdseed.”
What To Do If You See A bear
According to the state DEEP, there have only been two sightings of bears in the Valley since June 29, 2011. One was in Oxford and one was in Seymour. The dates of those sightings aren’t noted on the DEEP website.
However, there were several other bear sightings in Derby and Oxford earlier in June last year. Click here to read more about those sightings.
Click here for a list of black bear dos and don’ts.
The DEEP offers the following tips about how to prevent them from coming on your property:
- discontinue using bird feeders from late march through November. If you must hang bird feeders, hang them at least ten feet above the ground and six feet away from tree trunks.
- place garbage cans inside a garage or shed. Add ammonia to the trash to give it an unsavory taste.
- clean and store grills away after use.
- don’t intentionally feed the bears. Bears that are accustomed to finding food near your home may become a problem.
- don’t leave pet food outside overnight.
- don’t add meat or sweets to a compost pile.
Remember: bears are attracted to garbage, pet food, compost piles, fruit trees and bird feeders around houses.
Liana Teixeira contributed to this report.
